The NC SkillsUSA chapter traveled to Atlanta Technical College to compete in the regional competitions on Thursday, January 19. Students participated in many different types of SkillsUSA competitions, taking home multiple medals with the privilege of moving on to state.

The day started with the introduction of the regional competition, informing the competitors where and when to go to compete. These included cabinetmaking, broadcast news production, technical and architectural drafting, plumbing, quiz bowl, extemporaneous speaking, and many more.

“It gets very competitive and once you’re in the room with the rest of the schools, you realize the seriousness of the opportunity,” junior Josh Dawson said. “It really lets me bring out my inner ‘skills’ and express my creativeness. SkillsUSA is something I’m a part of for my future. It’s my tool to success.”

NC failed to disappoint this year at regionals. Recipients of gold medals included sophomore Cierra Walsh for early childhood, senior Diana Casco for architectural drafting, senior Yida Wang for technical drawing, and junior Nolan Moore for plumbing. Also, sophomore Patrick Duckett took home a silver medal for cabinetmaking and NC’s broadcast news production team placed second, which included seniors Josh Arias and Emmett Schindler and juniors Dawson and Turner Markwalter.

“Regionals is always competitive and by no means is it any easier than state. But to be second in the region and state was a great accomplishment for us and for NC,” Arias said.

All these students will move on to the state competition, as well as many other students that compete for only state competitions. State takes place from March 22-25, so competitors now start their preparation to keep succeeding in SkillsUSA and possibly move on to the next level: nationals.